April 25, 2022 at 7:56 a.m.
RHS track sweeps Dale Peterson Invite
RHS track sweeps Dale Peterson Invite
The Rhinelander girls' team won only one event, but rode a slew of second-place finishes to victory in the Dale Peterson Invitational at Antigo High School's Listle Field.
Rhinelander edged Three Lakes by 4 1/2 points for the title in the 10-team girls' field. It marked the Hodags' first meet victory since prior to 2006, the earliest year in which meet-by-meet results are available.
The Hodag girls had seven runner-up finishes between 2007 and 2022, the most recent coming earlier this month at the Northland Pines Indoor Invite.
"That's the first time I've seen a win in the girls' team in my tenure here," Hodag coach Aaron Kraemer said. "Honestly, in my 10 years I've been here in Rhinelander, I don't remember the girls ever winning. That's a gigantic feat for them to start that winning. Normally, when something good starts, when the responses start happening, the snowball effect starts to happen. You start to believe in yourself a little bit and you start to move downhill. Hopefully that's what the girls continue to do."
The good news for Rhinelander, and perhaps scary news for everyone else, is that the Hodags ran far from their optimal lineup in both divisions on Thursday, given it was the team's second meet in three days.
"Tonight was our alternate-style meet. If you look at the results, a lot of the kids who run in certain events, they didn't run tonight," Kraemer said. "We kind of stacked our relays on the girls' side. Megan (Brown) and Sage (Flory) only ran one open event and they ran the two relays - the 4x1 and the 4x2 - just trying different things to, first of all, work different types of events and make it so it's not stale and that we're not working the same things over and over and over."
Brown, Flory and fellow senior Emma Germain were on the same squad for two runner-up finishes in the relays. The three teamed with junior Gussie Gruett to finish second in the 4x200 and with freshman Reese Gehrig to take second in the 4x100.
Brown added a runner-up finish for Rhinelander in the 200 meters while Germain was second in the long jump.
Freshman Callie Hoerchler scored the lone win for the Hodag girls, taking the 100-meter hurdles (18.43 seconds). She was also in fourth in the 300 hurdles.
Junior Abby Swanson was runner-up in the shot put and finished third in the discus throw. Freshman Kiera Hartzke was the runner-up in the discus.
Another freshman, Luna Grage, had third-place runs for the Hodags in the 800 and 1,600 and was part of Rhinelander's runner-up showing in the 4x400 with Gruett, Kyleah Hartman and Rivers Eagleson.
Alyssa Smits added a fourth-place run in the 800, Eagleson and Gruett tied for fifth in the pole vault and freshman Brynn Teter was fifth in the 1,600.
"We're a deeper team right now than we have been before," Kraemer said of his girls' squad. "You add Reese and you add Callie and you add other pieces to the puzzle - Abby, Kiera in the throws - you start to say to yourself, 'OK, we've got something going on here.' It's been a good start to the season and I'm really excited for them."
Cole Worrall cleaned up again on the boys' side, winning the 110 and 300 hurdles. He busted off a time of 16.12 seconds to lead a 1-2 sweep of the 110s with teammate Peter Danh.
Brock Snyder was back in the lineup Thursday for Rhinelander and made an immediate impact. The senior took the shot put with a personal-best toss of 43 feet, 7 1/2 inches and then had a throw of 122-5 in the discus to win that event by a foot over teammate Conner Jensen.
"He's been working on a rotational shot put throw, him and Conner both have," Kraemer said. "He's starting to figure it out and when he starts to figure it out and use his body the same way he does in the disc, he's going to be deadly ... For him to throw a PR, 43-7 tonight, that's a really, really good start for him in the shot put.
"When you get upwards of 30 points from your throwers, that's a good meet. It's hard to lose when that happens - especially if you have good distance runners and sprinters."
Caleb Olcikas took the 200 meters for Rhinelander by 0.01 seconds over Lakeland's Bo Peterson, turning the tables on Peterson who beat Olcikas by 0.02 seconds for the win in the 200 last Tuesday in Minocqua.
Rhinelander also got a couple of unexpectedly strong performances in the long jump where sophomore Payton Campbell won with a leap of 18 feet, 3 inches. Senior Arik Beske, making his debut in the event, finished fourth with a jump of 17-9.
"Payton Campbell jumped an 18-3 tonight and, on that jump, you saw some of the technical things that you would see from a really great varsity long jumper. He's just starting, so it's encouraging," Kraemer said. "Same with Arik Beske. We haven't even practices a run up yet and he's out there jumping in the 17s."
Campbell and Beske were also on Rhinelander's winning 4x100 team with Brendon Eckrich and Beau Howard. Eckrich, Beske and Howard were joined by Kyrle Vanney in a runner-up finish in the 4x200. Howard and Eckrich finished second and third for Rhinelander in the 100 while Howard added a fourth-place performance in the high jump.
In an example of athletes running different events Thursday, distance runners Cody Ruetz and Jack DeNamur each competed in the 400, placing third and fifth respectively. Ruetz was also on the runner-up 4x400 squad with Ty Welk, Kaleb Winter and Worrall.
"Cody Ruetz and Jack DeNamur both ran the 400 just as a mix up to their distance style events," Kraemer said. "It kind of mirrors that kick in the last 200 of the 800 and they both had great times. Cody had a PR and he ran the 400 all year last year. Jack ran under a minute for the first time he's ever run it, which you don't see that unless you start experimenting, moving kids around."
DeNamur was also fourth in the 800 and on a third-place 4x800 team with Ruetz, Welk and Greyson Gremban.
Rhinelander is scheduled to return to action today in an invite at Medford High School. It will be another two-meet week for the Hodags who will travel to Northland Pines Thursday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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